An optical channel monitor (OCM) is a device capable of measuring an optical power in a wavelength channel of an optical signal. An OCM can be connected to a point in an optical network in order to measure, for example, power, frequency, and other characteristics of an optical channel at that point. In some cases, an OCM may scan multiple wavelength channels in order to measure optical power in the multiple channels (e.g., across a range of wavelengths). For example, an OCM may be used to monitor channels in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) system in which wavelength channels are multiplexed into a common carrier signal for transmission across the optical network (e.g., a dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) system in which wavelength channels are spaced apart by a frequency of 50 gigahertz (GHz), or the like).